THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

philosophy of Freemasonry, and it is these alone which will return the
student who devotes himself to the task, a sevenfold reward for his
labor.
Freemasonry, viewed no longer, as too long it has been, as a merely
social
institution, has now assumed its original and undoubted position as a
speculative science. While the mere ritual is still carefully
preserved,
as the casket should be which contains so bright a jewel; while its
charities are still dispensed as the necessary though incidental result
of
all its moral teachings; while its social tendencies are still
cultivated
as the tenacious cement which is to unite so fair a fabric in symmetry
and
strength, the masonic mind is everywhere beginning to look and ask for
something, which, like the manna in the desert, shall feed us, in our
pilgrimage, with intellectual food. The universal cry, throughout the
masonic world, is for light; our lodges are henceforth to be schools;
our
labor is to be study; our wages are to be learning; the types and
symbols,
the myths and allegories, of the institution are beginning to be
investigated with reference to their ultimate meaning; our history is
now
traced by zealous inquiries as to its connection with antiquity; and
Freemasons now thoroughly understand that often quoted definition, that
"Masonry is a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by
symbols."
Thus to learn Masonry is to know our work and to do it well. What true
mason would shrink from the task?
Synoptical Index.
A
AB. The Hebrew word AB signifies "father," and was among the Hebrews a
title of honor. From it, by the addition of the possessive pronoun, is
compounded the word _Abif_, signifying "his father," and applied to the
Temple Builder.
ABIF. See _Hiram Abif_.
ABNET. The band or apron, made of fine linen, variously wrought, and
worn
by the Jewish priesthood. It seems to have been borrowed directly from
the
Egyptians, upon the representations of all of whose gods is to be found
a